Mega Man X The Final Conflict
by Plushie Master Marth
Summary: After the events of MMX8, this story deals with X and Zero's fights against enemies of the past and present, as well as their own emotions. Story will unfold much more when I get the time, people! Discontinued...
1. Chapter One Return of Evil

1

Mega Man X - The Final Conflict

Chapter One - Return of Evil

Cold wind blew past the abandoned mountain research facility. Years back, before the beginning of the Maverick Wars, this facility was used to research the abilities of robots for their safe use. It was also used to watch over the natural elements of the mountain, and test the robots' durability in such harsh conditions. Humans were running this facility, as was the usual with such places. It now had deteriorated a slight bit, though it was sturdy enough to continue surviving in the harsh elements. Through the long abandoned halls, there was the faint sound of footsteps echoing throughout the building. The lights flicked out as a cloaked form walked through the hall, to the control room.

Meanwhile...

Maverick Hunter HQ had been quiet as of late. Axl had left a week ago to investigate a small uprising of Mavericks in a nearby human living quadrant, Gamma City. Seeing as it was easy enough for Axl to handle on his own, the two main hunters, Zero and Mega Man X, (known as X for short) stayed behind to keep watch on HQ. X was down in the main hallway of the establishment, which connected the command center of the base with the weapon, armor, and energy containment facilities, as well as the development center, which was constantly at work building new kinds of weapons for the hunters to try out. Here, in this hallway, we find X lost deep in thought.

X sighed lightly, leaning back against the wall. (All these battles...they always come at great prices...horrible tragedies...the deaths of our closest friends...why does it always end up like this?!) X 's buster on his arm started to pull in ions from the air, charging them up into a strong energy blast in reaction to his current mood. (If only I could end it all...Then...Then—!)

"X!" X's thoughts were interrupted, as he turned his head to his long-time partner, Zero, as he spoke, "You're doing it again!" X blinked in confusion for a moment, then it dawned upon him what Zero was talking about, as he deactivated his X-buster, his hand coming free from the barrel. "I'm sorry, Zero..." X said, bowing his head in shame.

Zero sighed, "X, don't get so worked up...you're just doing this because of all the stress. Douglas said it was just your weapon systems reacting to your emotions. So chill out a bit, I don't want another hole blown in the wall. Especially after how mad Alia got." X glanced away, to the floor, blushing as he then spoke, "I didn't mean to blow the wall away, especially when she was changing her armor like that."

Zero laughed, patting X on the back, managing to speak between laughs, "Ah, stop worrying about it! Just go and get some rest, I doubt there will be any attacks for a while!" X smiled as he spoke to his red armored comrade, "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Zero." As his blue friend walked off, Zero said, "What are friends for?"

Zero started to walk off, but heard X's voice again, "Zero, why do we keep on fighting?" Zero looked to X, blinking as he spoke, "What do you mean?" X looked to the ground. "Well, Zero...We always get stuck fighting all the time, no matter what dangers it may present, to protect humans and reploids, but...we've lost so many important friends. Doppler, Double, and Iris..." As X said the last name, Zero's eyes widened. He turned away abruptly. "X, don't worry about it...just go get some rest...we'll talk later." Zero walked off, his eyes closed as he thought. (I can't let my emotions get the best of me when X is like this...I need to chill out...)

As X watched his friend walk off, realizing what he said. (Iris...I forgot how much Zero had cared about her...He took so long to get over it...now I reminded him all over again. I'm sorry, Zero...I know how much you suffer.) X walked off into the regeneration room, sighing as he went.

A few hours later, the alarm started to blare throughout the Hunter base, as Zero ran to the command room. Skidding to a halt, he looked to Alia, speaking to her questioningly, "What's up, Alia?" Alia typed furiously at the control panel, a large image appearing onscreen. It showed a small human establishment, a town, that was in the Omega quadrant, being classified as Omega Town to Hunter HQ. Alia then described the situation, "Some of the reploid workers have gone Maverick in Omega town, and we need You and X to—Zero, where's X?" Zero shook his head as he spoke, "He's taking a break to calm himself down. I can probably handle this situation without assistance...As far as you had described it, I think I can handle this alone. Let X regain his state of mind again, I'll take care of all of the problem. I just have to take out the leader, and the rest will fall, right?"

Alia nodded to this. "I guess you're right. Shouldn't have to worry with you on the job, right Zero?" She said, smiling, though not very assured as to this. Zero smirked. "Send me there, and I'll finish it quickly." As Zero said this, Alia nodded, then typed in the coordinates. "Good luck, Zero." Alia then pushed one last button, as Zero changed to a thin red beam of light, and flew off into the sky. Alia watched, her expression currently filled with worry, apparently having something hanging in the depths of her mind.

A bright light emanated from the screen in the research center, the cloaked figure being seen as a silhouette to the light in the otherwise dark room. The screen displayed the activities of the mavericks in Omega Town and Gamma City, as the figure, in a relaxed fashion, watched over the events unfolding before his eyes. A smirk on a face mostly shadowed by its hood was visible within the light, silent.


	2. SubChapter One Axl

Sub-Chapter 1 - Axl

Gamma City. A while back I got a report that Mavericks had invaded this human sector. They knew I was right for the job right when they got this report. So I went off to find out about the Mavericks. This is _my_ story.

Gamma City had been a pretty good place to live for humans during the battles with all the Mavericks. There was a strong shielding that protected the city from Maverick attacks, as well as some strong defensive weapons, too! The people always were happy, their lives carefree because of all the protection they had. I'm not really one to like the lame peaceful scenes, because I have more fun fighting than in any other situation, but whatever. As I was saying, the population of this city was quite high. Perfect model city, I suppose.

According to the information I was given, some Mavericks found a maintenance hatch for the defense grid and busted it up. Didn't take much damage to shut the whole thing down. Then the bunch of losers stormed in and took over! Many humans were killed, but most are being used as hostages. They'll kill if they get the hint that an attack team has been deployed.

That's where I came in.

Thanks to my special shape-shifting abilities, I was the perfect candidate for this! Though I had to be careful, unlike what I'd rather do. This is a stealth mission, and I'm best equipped for it! What really sucks though...is that the teleport device was down on the day I was dispatched. So guess what? They made me walk hundreds of miles to get to the city! It took about a week for me to even get there! Lame, huh? Well, let's get to what's happening currently.

The town was completely empty. "Man, this is gonna be lame," I said, sighing in annoyance. Basically nothing was to be seen. "A dead-end dispatch mission, isn't that great? False info really su—"I stopped at this, feeling a gun barrel pointed to the back of my head. "Don't move," said a voice from behind, "or I'll shoot." I froze in my tracks, blinking nervously. "Come on now, man. It's no fair to sneak up BEHIND a guy. How low can ya go?" The reploid pushed the gun hard against the back of my head as he said, "Shut up!" I twitched, growling. "Go ahead, shoot! Or are ya scared?" The reploid behind me growled. "Alright, that's it!" And with that, there was a loud BANG noise, followed by a thud.

The reploid walked back to the alleyway from which he came, blowing at his pistol. A small slot on a metal door slid open to him, and a voice came from behind the door, "Did you take care of the little problem?" The reploid smirked, speaking, "Yep, piece of cake. He was a pushover." The slot then slid closed, as the door opened to a rough-looking male reploid. "Good job. You're liable for a promotion, man. The government reploids wouldn't dare to attack us with our hostages, eh?" The other reploid walked through the door. "Yeah, they've got nothing on us!"

The reploid laughed, secretly scanning over the Maverick base, his pistol held at his side. There was a second pistol, hidden in a compartment on his side, that looked very familiar, however. Since the reploid only had one gun, I could only copy one. And hopefully that tells you who the reploid really is, right?

...Right?


	3. Chapter Two Troubles

Chapter Two – Troubles

The sky was dark grey, lightning striking at the ground surrounding the city, though there was surprisingly no rain. The buildings all around were crumbled from numerous attacks with an energy shot, it seemed. Both human and reploid corpses alike littered the ground, with painful expressions frozen forever onto their faces.

X stared at the hundreds of corpses littering the ground, his eyes wide with horror. "What…what happened here!" X said this in a mix of rage, fear, and sorrow, able to think of how they all might have felt at death. X closed his eyes tightly, a few tears streaming from his face, as he spoke, "Who…who could have done this?"

Laughter suddenly echoed through the vast emptiness around the blue reploid. X recognized that voice, his eyes widening as he yelled, "Sigma! It was you who did this, wasn't it!" The laughter echoed through the nothingness again, as the voice then spoke, "X…Ha, ha… You always jump to conclusions, you always are the innocent one, aren't you? You believe I'm the cause for this conflict, X? Look at yourself…"

X looked down, to humor the voice, as his eyes they grew wide and full of fear. Blood stained his armor, both human and reploid blood alike. "What…What is this! Why is all of this…What…?" His mind was going in circles, he could figure out what was going on, and just then, the much hated voice of Sigma boomed around him. "Think about it, X! All the destruction you've caused, all the reploids you hurt. The future of the humans is inevitable…Your constant fighting just makes everything worse. You kill reploid after reploid, without a thought, claiming that they're mavericks.

How can you be so sure that some humans may not have gotten caught in the crossfire? Yet you still continue to fight, on and on…You may ask yourself why you do…but you _know_ why, don't you, X! You enjoy the feel of battle, the rush that danger gives you… You revel in destruction, doubt it as you like…Soon enough, you'll enjoy it so much that you'll go out simply with thirst for blood, no matter who you attack…"

"That's not true!" X screamed out, tears in his eyes. "I'm nothing like you! I fight to end this war, not to prolong the destruction!" Sigma's voice called out again, "Admit it X! You love war, it's the only thing that keeps you truly alive! Admit it!"

X held his hands to his helmet, yelling out, "No, no, no! Shut up, I'm not like that at all!" X stumbled back, closing his eyes tightly and clenching his teeth. He tripped on something all of a sudden, falling backwards. He cringed, sitting up and rubbing his head slightly. "Ugh…" X opened his eyes, as his pupils shrank, his look full of horror at what he saw.

Eyes clouded over, a young reploid stared vacantly at him, completely lifeless. Long singed, yet easily recognizable blonde hair flowing in a tattered ponytail, with an expression of pain upon the reploid's face. X stared at the reploid for a moment, then barely muttered, "Z-Zero…!"

"Yes, Zero…the same Zero you killed ruthlessly in battle, X!" Sigma's voice boomed out all around X, as he gripped his helmet tight, shaking his head. "No, I would never do anything like that!" Sigma's voice boomed out again, interrupting him, "That's what you were made for! A machine of destruction against your enemies! Join me, X!"

X yelled out in fear and rage, shooting into a sitting up position, then looking around, finding he was at Hunter HQ. X sighed in annoyance, holding his right hand to his forehead. "It was just a dream…nothing more…" He got out of the recovery pod, walking aimlessly out to the command room, while trying to convince himself that it was only a dream.

Zero sliced through another robotic guard, smirking as he watched parts fly everywhere. He looked around at the hundred of robots surrounding him. "Who else wants some!" Zero yelled out, as multiple robots leaped upon him. Whipping his Z-Saber forward, he cut through the robots' armor like a knife through butter. Zero sent his foot out to one robot, sending it flying into crowd of them, dashing forward instantly. He stabbed through the robots, then kicked them on top of a group of smaller ones, crushing them.

Flipping over a few shots from some of the others, he growled. "A few, she said! This is just getting ridiculous!" Zero held the Z-saber close at his side, then heard an alarm starting to blare. "Self destruct processes activated! All staff evacuate immediately!" A voice called out mechanically from a speaker up high on the wall. "Great! Just what I need," Zero snarled, flicking the energy saber off and sheathing it at his back. "Can't deal with these small fries! I need to find any humans, and fast!" Zero ran through the halls, leaping along walls to climb up to the higher levels, being pursued by some of the flying robotic guards.

"Damn it all, I'm gettin' sick of this now!" Zero said, starting to unsheathe his Z-Saber. Suddenly, a door slammed down, making the guards crash. "What the…" Zero said, then looked back ahead, seeing a group of humans cowering in the corner, with a young worker reploid holding them at gun point, looking back at Zero. "You're the guy they sent here, huh! Master Grinder, the Maverick Hunter is here!"

A large mole reploid stomped out from the shadows, with giant claws which doubled as drills. "Hmph, the great Zero has come to take care of a lowly group like us?" Zero smirked. "Grinder Mole…What makes a good tunnel worker go maverick, hm?" Grinder spoke in his gruff voice, "We're sick of all these humans ordering us around! They're always using us for their own selfish gain, not even doing any work for themselves, they're scum, Zero…don't you see!"

Zero unsheathed the Z-Saber, holding it forward. "Nonetheless, Grinder! These people need our protection. And if you stand in my way, I'll slice you to bits!" Grinder's claws whirred loudly as their drilling function activated. "Fine then, let's go!" Grinder then shot out his claws as drills toward the red Maverick Hunter. He easily dashed out of the way, smirking. "Come on, you just wasted your drills, Mole!" The large mole got a grim smile on his face. "Oh, did I?" Zero then yelled out in pain at the sudden drilling into his back, collapsing forward as the drills then jetted back to Grinder's robotic paws. "Hmph…Weak."


	4. Chapter Three Lost

Chapter Three – Lost

X sat peacefully in the training room, watching all the other Maverick hunters testing their skills, drinking out of a small energy drink. He sighed deeply, feeling quite depressed from all his nightmares lately. His systems were starting to malfunction, it was so bothersome, he tapped the table he was at with his fingers anxiously, deep in thought.  
He looked around at all the other hunters, seeing how hard they were working around him. X thought back to when he was that enthusiastic about his training, before his first real battles. All the simulations, all the target practice, made it seem like a game to him. Nothing mattered except getting stronger…but now, what was he to do? He wasn't fit for battle if he couldn't control himself…and all his thoughts went back to the pain all the reploids he had killed must have been like.  
X crushed the energy can in his hand, throwing it to the ground in a sudden fit of frustration. "Grahh!" He threw the can out in a random direction, then, recovering his patience, looked around, noticing everyone was staring at him. "O-Oh… Erm, carry on! Just was practicing a special thing. Hahaha…" X laughed nervously, scratching the back of his helmet.  
As the other reploids went back to their training, X slapped his forwhead with his hand. 'I'm losing control of my rage, even…' he thought to himself. He then jumped slightly, as the alarm blared, and out of the speakers, yelled, "X, please come to the command room immediately!" X instantly ran off toward the command room, wondering to himself what the trouble was.

Grinder laughed loudly, and started to walk away toward a large door, looking toward the humans and smirking wildly. "You have 15 minutes before this base explodes, enjoy your time!" The large mole reploid then reached toward the door mechanism, laughing still.  
_CRACK  
_Grinder Mole roared out in pain, one of his drill claws falling to the ground, sparking with clean-cut accuracy, making it all but useless. Grinder glared over to Zero, who stood, holding his Z-Saber in his right hand, smirking grimly. "You should always save your tricks for a more important time, Grinder! You can't expect to fool me this time!" Grinder, in a fit of desperate rage, wrenched his paws forward, and launched the drills outward, laughing madly.  
Zero managed to leap away from the small drills, turning around just to see them all split into two smaller drills each. Zero stared, and dashed away, as the drills shot by, slicing up one of his legs as they shot by. Yelling out in pain, Zero skidded on the ground and smacked against a wall.  
Drill claws coming back together, they locked back into Grinder's paws, as he laughed madly, slowly stomping toward Zero. Zero growled, thinking, _Damn it, he's gone completely mad! Think, Zero, think! You need to figure something out!_ Zero then glanced to the ground, finding a pickaxe. _Bingo, perfect! Now, to distract big and ugly, here…_ "You think ya got me, Grinder! Ha, X is on his way right now to take you out! You're not gettin' away from the Maverick Hunters!"  
Grinder laughed hysterically, and wrenched his paws in the direction of the humans, yelling out, "If I go down, _I'M TAKING THEM WITH ME!_" Zero's eyes flashed as he saw his chance, grabbing the pickaxe. Zero flung it out directly at Grinder's head, muttering to himself, "Come on…!" The axe slammed directly into Grinder's head, cracking away some of his head armor. Roaring out in pain, Grinder fell back.  
"This is it!" Zero ran forward, flicking on the Z-Saber, swinging out to the broken armor of Grinder's head. There was a bright flash, as Zero dashed past. Zero placed the saber away at his back, closing his eyes. At that instant, Grinder's systems overloaded, as his body exploded loudly.  
Smirking, Zero picked up one of the drill pieces, placing it into the Z-Saber. He started to register something in his mind, thinking of a new technique. "Yes, that's good!" As he did this, the alarm started to blare loudly throughout the base. "Warning! Warning! Five minutes until factory sector self destruct! All workers evacuate immediately!"  
"Damn it!" Zero ran to the door unit, and then tried to access its control mechanism. "Great! It's passworded? Just what I need at a time like this!" Zero growled loudly. One of the humans then spoke, "Only Grinder knew the password to that door, and it's too thick to cut through." Another person spoke, "Only a drill could penetrate that steel!"  
Zero smirked, getting an idea. "I wonder if…" Without finishing, Zero grabbed the Z-Saber, flicking the blade to life once more. Pulling it back, Zero clenched the saber tight, thrusting it out toward the door. The energy whirled out like a drill, tearing through the door easily, busting a hole large enough to walk through.  
"Come on, come on! Let's go!" Zero yelled, motioning for all the people to run through. The people quickly followed him, pushing and shoving to escape faster. Zero ushered them through, leading them through a long dirt tunnel. Maverick robots flooded in from the opposite side, as Zero growled. "Damn it, we don't need this! You all get going; I'll take care of them!" Zero then ran toward the robots, yelling, "Come on, scrap metal, let's go!"

"X! There's a disruption in the mountain research station. Normally, I wouldn't think much of this, but none of our scouts have returned. Will you please investigate for us? I don't know what is there because it's jamming our radar." Alia looked at X, frowning slightly. "I don't know if you should take the work, X. You're exhausted as is." X sighed, "It can't be helped…Send me there."  
Alia typed in the coordinates without anymore arguments, activating the teleporter alarm. "All personnel please back away from the teleport unit! Transferring Maverick Hunter Unit: Mega Man X to the arctic research center!" The platform glowed as she yelled, "Teleport commence!" With that, X beamed away in a light blue glow.  
X arrived on scene, his X-buster already at the ready position, as he walked through the base. He suddenly leapt forward, just as a security drone swung a beam saber at him, just narrowly dodging the attack. He shot the drone right in the head with a plasma blast, sighing. "Damn it, the drones are haywire…When could be causing this?" X ran deeper into the base's confines, neglecting to notice the purple arcs of electricity emanating from the fallen mechaniloid.  
X walked through the halls carefully, knowing personally that the base was rigged with traps. Oddly, the only hazard he had met so far was that security droid…Something was wrong…As X walked, he continued to think about all the people that had been let down because of him: Colonel, Double, Dr. Doppler, Gate…He even almost allowed Axl to die…And Zero…he was forced to kill Iris…the girl that he loved, all because of Sigma…all because of him!  
_Why does this all continue to happen? I just want to live in peace, _X thought, _I just want it all to end, I wish I could do something!_ "You want to end it all?" X flinched, glancing around wildly as the voice echoed through the halls. "Just close your eyes, and rest…" X suddenly felt exhausted, muttering, "Wha…What's happening?" The voice grew less and less distinct as the voice echoed, "Just rest…it will all be over soon…"

Zero brought down the last mechaniloid, a smoking pile of rubbish left of it. The crimson hunter slid the saber unit into his back once again, pushing his long blonde ponytail from his shoulder, draping it back behind him. "Well, that's over…and the humans escaped, I'm outta here too." As he walked toward the exit, the cave suddenly collapsed, blocking his exit. "Damn it! I should have expected this!" A huge group of mechaniloids charged toward Zero, holding drilling equipment as weapons. "Oh, give me a break!"  
A huge arcing energy blade sliced through the mechaniloid ranks, causing them to fall to pieces quickly, all at once exploding violently. Zero blinked in astonishment, glancing up to the ceiling. A dual beam saber carrying reploid dropped down, with six mechanical angel wings draped on his back, this reploid wore no helmet, having medium length black hair, a small bit covering his left eye. "Angelus!" The reploid looked back to Zero and smirked. "Thought you could use some help, Zero. Guess I got here just in time!" Zero nodded quickly, then looked back to the blocked exit. "Unfortunately, the exit's been blown out, so I doubt we're getting out that way."  
Angelus grinned, looking back at Zero, a sleek tuft of black hair covering his left eye as he pointed up to a ceiling shaft. "Then I guess we're takin' the hard way!" Zero, seeing this look, smirked in reply. "I'm up for a challenge!" Nodding, Angelus spoke, "Let's go then!" With that, the angelic reploid shot up into the air vent, Zero using his jump boosters to follow.  
Flipping from wall to wall, Zero heard the speakers call out, "60 seconds remaining until self-destruct." Zero smirked inwardly, jumping into a forking path from the main upward vent, thinking as he went, _Sixty seconds is plenty of time!_ He sliced open a grate, leaping into the ore storage. Leaping from pile to pile, Zero rushed toward the door that led to the main workstation. Bursting through the door, Zero ran out to the window of the workstation, crossing his arms over his face as he shot toward it.  
With a loud crash, Zero flew from the window, glass shards flying out everywhere as he burst free, falling down around four stories toward a large pit. "Damn, I think my plan needed a little work!" Before he fell too far, Angelus caught the crimson hunter by the arms, flying out and landing safely in the shelter, just as the mining center was torn apart in an earthshaking explosion. The angel reploid covered the shelter with his wings, protecting it effectively from the flying debris.  
About ten minutes later, Zero walked up to Angelus, who was checking on all the people. "You came just in time, man. Why _were_ you here, anyway? I thought I was the only one dispatched." The angelic reploid grinned at Zero wildly. "I'm not a maverick hunter, so I just come and go as I please. If you remember, the maverick hunters hate me." Zero sighed, shaking his head. "They just don't understand your abilities; they think you're a maverick for how your systems work…Don't worry about them, man. You're too cool for those buncha stiffs anyway, man! Hah!" Angelus had to laugh too, nodding. "Ah, Zero…you're not like the rest of them! We're just like brothers." Zero grinned. "Well then, little brother, I guess it's time for your torture!" Zero grabbed Angelus up in a headlock, grinding his fist against the top of his head.  
"Augh! Zero, stop! Ow!" Angelus struggled against Zero's hold, the elder reploid finally letting him go as he laughed like mad. "Oh, man, Angelus! You can handle an army of mavericks but you hate noogies!" Angelus glared at him, and stood up. "Meh, I need to go tend to some other matters. Later, Zero." Zero waved, as Angelus flew off into the sky. He the sighed, and held his hand to the side of his helmet. "Alia, I finished the mission; the maverick was retired and the humans are safe." Alia replied through the radio link, "Zero...Something went wrong while you were gone..."Zero's eyes widened as he heard those words, and he spoke nervously, "What happened...?" Alia was silent for a moment, then replied, "X's signal has stopped transmitting while he was on a mission...I can't pick up any transmission from him at all..." Zero was surprised, to say the least. Knowing X as well as he did, he was always careful when on a mission, never known to be caught off guard, so how? "Zero, please return to base, we need you." Zero nodded. "Alright." The crimson hunter, without another word, beamed back to base.


End file.
